We gratefully acknowledge the support of
Virginia Commonwealth University, VCUarts, the Department of Fashion Design + Merchandising, our department chair, and our faculty colleagues, whose encouragement and support helped make this research possible.
Our Many Thanks
This project was generously funded by the VCU Humanities Research Center’s HSS Grant, which supported our study of young female swimmers’ preferences, experiences, and relationships with competitive swimwear design.
We extend our sincere appreciation to the swimmers, families, coaches, and local swim teams who welcomed us into their communities, participated in our surveys and interviews, and generously shared their time, insights, and perspectives.
We are especially grateful to the swimmers and families of Smoketree Swim Team, including Brandon Atkinson, Vivianne Atkinson, Phoebe Bottrell, Mary Parker, Juanita Fitzgerald, and Liam West; to the NOVA, SwimRVA, and Quest swim teams; and to the staff and faculty at VCUarts, including Cassie Knudsen, Paul Atkinson, Melyatta Powers, Darrian Lewis, Deidra Arrington, Kim Guthrie, Hawa Stwodah, and Christiana Lafazani.
We would also like to recognize our student, Ciara Joyner-Plata, whose connection to her cousin, Simone Manuel, contributed meaningfully to the development of this work.
Finally, we extend a special thank you to the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Museum in Colorado Springs, Colorado, especially its staff and tour guides, for their generosity, insight, and support.
Connect with us!
We welcome questions, feedback, and scholarly conversation from swimmers, families, coaches, designers, educators, researchers, and exhibition visitors.
As an academic research project and public-facing archive, this work invites continued participation from those with swimwear stories, images, design references, or related experiences that can help document the visual culture of swim, including print, color, motif, identity, and athletic experience.
